Zack Kopplin

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If you don't follow the American politics closely, you probably don't know who Zack Kopplin is. So get ready for a quick explanation, because we're sure you'll become his fans, after reading this article.

Kopplin is a boy who has just graduated from high school (rumors say he'll go to Rice University next fall): he is turning the state of Louisiana upside down by asking the abrogation of the Science Education Act. According to this 2008 law, the state allows the use of "alternative" textbooks in scientific courses at school; this means biology students could be forced to read the Bible or Scientology manuals as textbooks. The law, promoted by the Louisiana Family Forum (a Christian association), was approved in the name of freedom of thought, but, as Kopplin has stressed out, its effect is devastating for the education of young people. As a matter of fact, competitiveness among students depends on how the course of study is planned: with this law, the state of Louisiana allows students to be deprived of fundamental scientific knowledge. (Here I can only summarize Kopplin's reasoning: it is reminiscent of the incompatible dialogue of different subjects, a concept which follows Galileo's thoughts. Scientific subjects are the result of tests and confutations, so it's incompatible with religion, which doesn't depend on verification.

Kopplin's most suprising feature is not his political maturity or his rational thought, but his managing abilities. His public actions are as many as his ever-growing supporters all over the world. He convinced a senator, Karen Carter Peterson, to support his attempt to abrogate the law and his petition, thanks to Change.org, has been subscribed by over 65.000 people. His efforts have been supported by an incredible number of academic and scientific institutions all around the world (among the others, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, which has over 10 million members); he has also received the support of over 40 recipients of the Nobel Prize.

It seems this 17-year-old boy has no intention to stop. Kopplin's goal is not only the Education Act in Louisiana: he wants to counteract the more and more defamatory accusations that science has unreasonably been receiving in America. We're referring to political figures like Michele Bachmann, a possible (though unlikely) Republican White House candidate, who, as you may know, is famous for the carelessness with which she dismisses scientific issues (such as global warming, which she defines a hoax).

Whatever may be your opinion on creationism, we think it's difficult not to be infected with Kopplin's energy. It's not his activism only that cheers us up. Instead, we like noticing that it's a teenager the one who is challenging a system created by adults: this demonstrates that Internet - which has a capital role in this story - finally helps in carrying out a postulate of scientific thought. According to this postulate, a thought has to be considered for what it is, despite the person who elaborates it. And this is the postulate Kopplin is strenously trying to defend.